t 


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S.W 


V 


THE 

GREEK  CHURCH 

AND 

Protestant  Missions; 

OR, 

Missions  to  the  Oriental 
Churches. 


THE 


GREEK  CHURCH 

AND 

Protestant  Missions; 

OR, 

Missions  to  the  Oriental 
Churches. 


BY 

REV.  HENRY  HARRIS  JESSUP,  D.D., 

American  Presbyterian  Missionary , 

Beirut, 

SYRIA. 


1891. 


Copyright,  1891,  by 

THE  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  CO., 
New  York. 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND  PROT- 
ESTANT MISSIONS  ; OR,  MISSIONS 
TO  THE  ORIENTAL  CHURCHES. 


BY  REV.  HENRY  H.  JESSUP,  D.D.,  BEIRUT, 
SYRIA. 

The  Oriental  churches  may  be  divided 
into  six  great  classes,  comprising  fourteen 
different  sects  : 

I.  The  Monophysite,  Eutychian,  or  anti- 
Chalcedonian  sects,  who  reject  the  decrees 
of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  held  in  451. 
These  are  four  : the  Armenians,  Jacobites 
(or  Syrians),  Copts,  and  Abyssinians.  They 
all  have  their  own  distinct  ritual  and  calen- 
dar, are  hostile  to  each  other  and  to  all  other 
Christian  sects,  have  a married  parish 
clergy,  and  reject  the  primacy  of  the  Pope. 

II.  The  anti-Ephesian,  who  reject  the 
Council  of  Ephesus  in  431.  These  are  the 
Nestorians  or  Chaldeans.  They  have  a 
married  clergy,  a high  reverence  for  the 
Scriptures,  and  but  little  picture  worship. 

III.  The  Orthodox  Greek,  who  accept 
the  seven  General  Councils.  The  Greek 
Church  is  Rome  decapitated — a priestly  sys- 
tem without  a pontifex,  an  exclusive  tradi- 
tional Church,  which  yet  allows  the  Bible 


4 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


to  the  people.  In  the  Turkish  Empire  its 
patriarchs  and  the  most  of  its  bishops  are 
foreigners,  speaking  only  Greek  and  igno- 
rant of  the  customs  and  wants  of  the  people, 
though  of  late  the  Syrians  of  the  Greek 
Church  demand  bishops  of  the  Arab  race. 
The  parish  clergy  are  married  and  generally 
most  illiterate.  The  present  Anglican 
bishop  of  Jerusalem  remarked  to  a traveller 
recently  that  “ no  one  but  those  who  lived 
in  the  East  could  be  aware  of  the  gross  igno- 
rance and  immorality  of  the  Greek  priests.” 
Ordinarily  the  practice  in  appointing  priests 
is  that  of  Jeroboam,  who  “ made  priests  of 
the  lowest  of  the  people.” 

IV.  The  Maronite,  a papal  sect,  the  an- 
cient Monothelites,  who  accepted  the  papacy 
in  1182  a.d.  They  are  chiefly  peasants  in 
Northern  Lebanon,  an  ignorant  people,  and 
an  educated  priesthood  sworn  to  allegiance 
to  Rome,  and  yet  like  all  the  above  in  hav- 
ing a married  parish  clergy.  The  Maronite 
patriarch  is  regarded  by  his  people  as  hardly 
inferior  to  the  Pope. 

V.  The  six  Oriental  papal  6ects,  who  are 
converts  from  six  of  the  above  sects  to  the 
Church  of  Rome.  They  are  the  Papal 
Greek,  Papal  Armenian,  Papal  Syrian,  Pa- 
pal Nestorian,  Papal  Coptic,  and  Papal 
Abyssinian.  They  maintain  their  own  cal- 
endars and  saint  days,  the  marriage  of  the 
clergy,  and  various  ancient  prerogatives 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


5 


which  the  papal  legates  are  now  striving 
most  assiduously  to  abolish. 

VI.  The  Latins,  a small  community  com- 
posed chiefly  of  attaches  of  the  French  and 
Italian  monasteries,  who  have  conformed  in 
all  respects  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 

These  sects  all  agree  sufficiently  both  in 
the  common  truth  and  the  common  error 
which  they  hold,  to  be  classed  as  one — one 
in  their  need  of  reformation,  one  in  being 
an  obstacle  to  the  Christianization  of  the 
Mohammedan  world. 

They  all  hold  the  dootrine  of  transubstan- 
tiation,  of  baptismal  regeneration,  priestly 
absolution,  Mariolatry  and  saint  worship, 
image  and  picture  worship,  auricular  con- 
fession, and  prayers  for  the  dead.  Their 
patriarchs  and  bishops  are  celibate,  but  the 
parish  clergy  are  generally  allowed  to  marry 
once.  Instruction  in  the  Scriptures  is  vir- 
tually unknown. 

The  numbers  of  these  sects,  not  including 
Russia  and  Greece,  are  as  follows  : Greeks, 
1,000,000  ; Maronites,  230,000  ; Nestorian 
Catholics,  20,000  ; Greek  Catholics,  50,000  ; 
Jacobite  Syrians,  30,000  ; other  papal  sects, 
300,000  ; Nestorians,  140,000  ; Nestorians 
in  India,  116,000  ; Armenians,  3,000,000  ; 
Copts,  200,000  ; Abyssinians,  4,500,000  ; 
total,  9,586,000. 

Thus  we  have  about  ten  millions  of  nomi- 
nal Christians  scattered  throughout  the 


6 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


great  centres  and  seats  of  Mohammedan 
population  and  power. 

These  Christian  sects  have  never  felt  the 
impulse  of  such  an  awakening  as  shook  all 
Europe  in  the  days  of  the  Reformation. 
About  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  Luther 
the  German  Protestant  divines  opened  cor- 
respondence with  the  Patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople, but  he  rejected  their  overtures  with 
contempt.  The  Greek  Church  “ knew  not 
the  day  of  its  visitation.”  For  three  hun- 
dred years  after  that  time,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  sending  of  papal  legates,  hardly 
a movement  was  made  in  Europe  toward 
modifying  the  state  of  the  Eastern  churches. 

In  the  year  1819  the  first  American  mis- 
sionaries came  to  Western  Asia,  bringing 
the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  the  Mohammedans, 
but  in  their  explorations  they  came  in  con- 
tact with  these  various  Oriental  Christian 
sects.  They  found  them  to  be  ignorant, 
illiterate,  superstitious,  idolatrous,  despised, 
and  hated  by  the  Mohammedans. 

Yet  they  were  instructed  “ not  to  inter- 
fere with  the  Oriental  churches,  but  to  visit 
the  ecclesiastics  and  persuade  them,  if  pos- 
sible, to  abandon  their  errors,  which  are  re- 
pugnant to  the  Word  of  God.” 

They  gave  themselves,  therefore,  to  the 
work  of  education,  Bible  distribution,  and 
the  press.  But  in  1832  the  Greek  bishops 
in  Latakiah,  Tripoli,  Damascus,  and  other 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


7 


places  gathered  the  Arabic  Bibles  (printed 
in  London  from  the  version  of  the  Roman 
propaganda)  and  burned  them  in  the  court- 
yards of  the  churches.  In  1830  the  Maro- 
nite  patriarch  put  to  death  Asaad-esh- 
Shidiak,  the  martyr  of  Lebanon,  for  reading 
the  Bible  and  rejecting  the  errors  of  Rome. 

In  September,  1835,  Rev.  Drs.  Eli  Smith 
and  W.  M.  Thomson  and  other  missionaries, 
in  reply  to  the  request  of  a papal  Greek  priest 
from  Acre  to  profess  the  Protestant  faith, 
adopted  the  following  minutes  : 1.  It  is  not 
an  object  with  us  to  draw  individuals  from 
other  native  Christian  sects  and  thereby  in- 
crease our  own  denomination.  2.  Yet  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  of  the  churches 
who  have  sent  us  hither,  when  a member  of 
any  native  sect,  giving  satisfactory  evidence 
of  piety,  desires  the  sacraments  of  us,  we 
cannot  refuse  his  request,  however  it  may 
interfere  with  his  previous  ecclesiastical  re- 
lations.” On  this  basis  individuals  of  the 
various  Oriental  churches,  including  bishops, 
priests,  and  others,  were  received  to  the 
Lord’s  table,  together  with  baptized  converts 
from  the  Druzes. 

But  the  number  of  enlightened  men  and 
women  increased  in  various  parts  of  the 
land,  and  they  demanded  the  right  to  be 
organized  into  a distinct  Protestant  Church 
of  their  own. 

This  request  was  finally  acceded  to,  and 


8 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


the  first  Protestant  native  Syrian  church 
was  organized  in  1848.  Since  that  time 
twenty-five  other  churches  have  been  or- 
ganized in  this  mission,  with  about  1700 
communicants  from  among  Moslems,  Jews, 
Druzes,  Greeks,  Maronites,  Nusairiyeh,  and 
Bedawin  Arabs. 

The  whole  number  of  Protestant  churches 
in  the  empire  is  now  about  175,  with  20,000 
communicants  and  nearly  100,000  adherents. 
The  majority  of  these  communities  are  un- 
doubtedly from  the  Oriental  churches,  and 
we  are  now  met  by  the  high  ecclesiastical 
party  in  the  Anglican  Church  with  the  pro- 
test that  this  whole  movement  is  a mistake. 
It  is  denounced  as  proselytism,  as  an  at- 
tempt to  build  up  one  Christian  Church  at 
the  expense  of  another.  It  is  said  that 
these  Greeks  and  Maronites  and  others 
have  the  creeds  of  Christendom,  and  we 
have  no  right  to  receive  their  followers  into 
our  churches.  We  do  not  propose  to  reply 
to  this  charge  by  the  “ it  tu  Brute. ” coun- 
tercharge that  these  same  high  sacerdotal- 
ists  do  not  hesitate  in  England  and  America 
to  receive  scores  of  Methodists  and  Bap- 
tists, Presbyterians,  Congregationalists  and 
Friends  to  their  own  church,  without  feel- 
ing that  they  have  committed  the  heinous 
sin  of  proselytism.  The  work  of  missions 
in  the  East  can  be  justified  without  such  a 
personal  argumentum  ad  hominem. 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


0 


Let  us  consider  the  whole  question  calm- 
ly, in  the  light  of  God’s  Word  and  Provi- 
dence. 

The  chief  and  ultimate  object  of  mission- 
ary work  in  Western  Asia  is  the  conversion 
of  the  Mohammedans  to  the  Christian  faith. 
They  number  180,000,000  in  Asia  and  Afri- 
ca, and  constitute  one  of  the  great  influen- 
tial factors  in  the  future  religious  history  of 
the  race.  The  Gospel  is  to  be  given  to 
them.  All  the  Christian  churches  which 
have  any  missionary  zeal  admit  this.  Thus 
far  they  are  almost  unaffected  by  the  great 
missionary  movements  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

They  believe  in  one  God  and  in  the  divine 
origin  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  ; 
but  regard  the  Scriptures  as  corrupted,  deny 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  ignore  the  spiritual- 
ity of  religion,  and  look  upon  Christians  as 
their  hereditary  enemies.  Having  seen  only 
the  Oriental  type  of  Christianity,  they  de- 
spise its  immorality  and  idolatry,  and  pro- 
test against  the  creature  worship  and  image 
worship  of  both  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches.  Images,  pictures,  and  saints  are 
the  abomination  of  the  Mohammedan  world. 

The  pagans  of  the  second  century  ob- 
jected to  Christianity  that  it  had  neither 
altars  nor  images  ; the  Moslem  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  objects  to  Christianity  that 
it  has  only  images  and  altars. 


10 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


The  Christian  missionary  to-day  urges  a 
Mohammedan  to  accept  Christianity.  He 
is  met  with  the  derisive  reply,  “ Thank 
God  we  are  not  idol  worshippers  as  are  you 
Christians,  and  God  willing,  we  never  will 
he.  We  have  lived  among  Christians  twelve 
hundred  years,  and  we  want  none  of  your 
creature  worship.  There  is  no  God  but 
God.”  The  missionary  may  protest  and  ex- 
plain, but  until  he  can  show  the  Moslem  a 
pure  Christianity  in  life  and  doctrine,  and 
illustrate  by  living  examples  the  Bible  ideal 
of  a Christian  church,  his  appeals  and  argu- 
ments will  be  in  vain. 

This  state  of  things  confronted  all  Chris- 
tian missionaries  in  Oriental  lands  fifty  years 
ago,  and  it  confronts  them  to-day. 

These  Oriental  churches  are  among  the 
greatest  obstacles  to  the  conversion  of  their 
Mohammedan  neighbors.  Protestants  gen- 
erally will  admit  this  with  regard  to  the 
Church  of  Eome,  and  at  the  same  time 
there  are  those  who  contend  that  the  Greek 
Church  is  purer,  and  hence  should  be  in- 
trusted with  the  work  of  evangelizing  the 
Moslems  and  Jews  in  Western  Asia.  As 
this  question  is  now  a “ burning”  one  in 
the  Anglican  Church,  let  us  ask  what  is  the 
teaching  and  practice  of  the  Greek  Church 
in  Western  Asia  to-day  ? Our  reply  will 
be  takeu  chiefly  from  their  own  ecclesiasti- 
cal books.  The  XIXth  Article  of  faith  of 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


11 


the  Church  of  England  declares  that  “ as 
the  churches  of  Jerusalem,  Alexandria,  and 
Antioch  have  erred,  so  also  the  Church  of 
Rome  hath  erred,  not  only  in  their  living 
and  manner  of  ceremonies,  but  also  in  mat- 
ters of  faith.”  And  in  Article  XXII.,  “ The 
Romish  doctrine  concerning  Purgatory,  Par- 
dons, Worshipping  and  Adoration  as  well  of 
Images  as  of  Reliques,  and  also  Invocation 
of  Saints  is  repugnant  to  the  Word  of  God.” 

I.  In  the  Greek  Catechism,  Jerusalem 
ed.,  page  82,  we  read,  “It  is  one  of  the 
presumptuous  sins  against  the  Holy  Spirit, 
to  hope  for  salvation  without  works  to  merit 
it.”  It  is  plainly  taught  that  justification 
can  only  be  obtained  as  a reward  of  merito- 
rious actions.  In  this  the  Greeks  and 
Latins  agree,  only  that  in  the  Latin  theol- 
ogy “ the  merit  of  good  works  is  acquired 
only  through  the  atonement  of  Christ, 
while  the  Greek  Church  puts  into  a motley 
confusion  Christ,  the  sacraments,  the  priest, 
and  good  works.”  * Rejecting  the  scrip- 
tural doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  the 
door  is  thrown  open  for  endless  error  and 
confusion. 

II.  A sacrament  is  defined  to  be  “a  sa- 
cred performance  whereby  grace  acts  in  a 
mysterious  manner  upon  man.  In  other 


* “ Researches  into  the  Religions  of  Syria,”  by  Rev.  John 
Wortabet,  M.D.,  London,  1860,  an  admirable  book  which 
should  he  reprinted  and  widely  read. 


12 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


words,  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salva- 
tion.” * “ The  sacraments  are  divided  inta 

two  classes  : first,  such  as  are  absolutely 
necessary  in  themselves — namely,  baptism, 
holy  chrism,  and  communion.  These  are 
indispensably  necessary  for  procuring  salva- 
tion and  eternal  life  ; for  it  is  impossible  to 
be  saved  without  them.  The  second  divi- 
sion embraces  those  sacraments,  the  neces- 
sity for  which  proceeds  from  something 
else.” 

III.  “ The  benefits  conferred  by  baptism 
are  the  remission  of  original  sin,  the  remis- 
sion of  all  past  actual  sins,  and  grace  to  sus- 
tain the  believer  in  his  conflict  with  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.” 

In  baptism  the  first  step  is  exorcising  the 
evil  spirit  by  an  elaborate  prayer  of  con- 
juration. Then  the  priest  breathes  into  the 
mouth  of  the  candidate,  on  his  forehead, 
and  on  his  bosom,  each  time  saying,  “ Dis- 
pel from  him  every  evil  and  polluted  spirit 
which  may  lurk  in  his  heart,”  etc. 

Then  the  candidate  or  his  godfather  re- 
nounces the  devil,  his  works,  his  angels,  his 
service,  and  his  pomp. 

The  water  and  oil  are  then  consecrated. 
In  the  prayer  of  consecration  for  the  water 
is  the  petition,  “ Make  it  a fountain  of  im- 
mortality, granting  sanctification,  forgiving 


* Universal  Catechism,  Part  I.,  sec.  10. 


PROTKSTANT  MISSIONS. 


13 


6ins,  dispelling  diseases,  destroying  devils,” 
etc.  Similar  language  is  used  in  conse- 
crating the  oil. 

The  person  is  then  immersed  three  times, 
in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  lloly 
Spirit.  This  trine  immersion  is  regarded 
as  essential,  and  all  converts  to  the  Greek 
Church  must  be  rebaptized.  In  this  re- 
spect the  Greek  Church  is  far  more  exclu- 
sive than  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  does  not 
admit  that  the  Pope  or  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  has  ever  been  baptized.  Rome 
admits  lay  baptism,  and  baptism  by  sprink- 
ling, pouring,  or  immersion.  The  Greek 
Church  insists  on  trine  immersion  by  a 
Greek  priest.  An  Anglican  clergyman 
once  asked  permission  to  “ assist”  a Greek 
priest  in  his  service  in  Nazareth.  The 
priest  politely  informed  him  that  as  he  had 
never  been  either  baptized  or  ordained  his 
request  must  be  declined. 

IV.  After  baptism  the  priest  administers 
holy  chrism.  The  oil  for  this  purpose  is  a 
mixture  of  olive  oil  and  aromatic  substances 
made  in  a decoction  by  the  bishop.  The 
fuel  used  is  the  half-rotten  and  worn-out 
wood  of  the  holy  pictures  (eikons),  which 
have  been  worn  off  by  the  constant  kissing 
of  devout  worshippers  or  so  worm-eaten  by 
age  as  to  be  useless. 

The  priest  anoints  the  candidate’s  fore- 
head, eyes,  nostrils,  mouth,  ears,  breast, 


14  THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 

hands,  and  feet  in  the  form  of  a cross,  say- 
ing, “ The  seal  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Amen.”  The  communion  is  then 
administered  equally  to  adults  and  infants. 
Eucologion,  Jerusalem,  1856,  (under  in- 
spection of  Cyril,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem.) 

V.  As  all  sin,  original  and  actual,  com- 
mitted before  baptism  is  washed  away  by  it, 
subsequent  sins  are  pardoned  by  the  sacra- 
ment of  “ repentance,”  “ whereby  he  who 
confesses  his  sins  is  pardoned  by  Jesus 
Christ  himself,  through  the  absolution  pro- 
nounced by  the  priest.”  After  confession 
the  priest  says,  “ As  to  the  sins  which  then 
hast  confessed,  go  in  peace  without  the 
least  anxiety.” 

VI.  Penances,  such  as  fasting  over  and 
above  the  appointed  times,  are  imposed  on 
the  penitent,  to  “ cleanse  the  conscience 
and  give  peace  of  mind.”  * 

VII.  The  Communion  is  a sacrificial  mass, 
both  a eucharistical  and  propitiatory  sacri- 
fice. In  the  liturgy  of  the  mass  hardly  a 
vestige  of  the  original  institution  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  has  been  preserved.  The 
priest  takes  a cake  of  bread  in  his  left  hand 
and  the  sacred  spear  in  his  right,  touches 
the  bread  with  the  spear  four  times  in  the 
form  of  a cross,  repeating  words  from  Scrip- 
ture. Deacon  : “ Lift  up,  0 Lord.”  The 


* Universal  Catechism,  Part  I.,  sec.  10. 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


15 


priest  takes  up  the  sacred  bread,  saying, 
“ He  was  cut  oil  out  of  the  land  of  the  liv- 
ing.” He  then  inverts  the  bread  in  the 
silver  plate.  Deacon  : “ Slay,  0 Lord.” 
The  priest  then  slays  the  bread  in  the  form 
of  a cross,  etc.  Deacon  : “ Pierce,  0 
Lord.”  The  priest  then  pierces  the  right 
side  of  the  cake. 

The  priest  then  takes  another  cake,  and 
cutting  off  a part,  takes  it  up  on  the  point 
of  the  spear,  saying,  “In  honor  and  com- 
memoration of  our  most  blessed  lady  Mary, 
the  mother  of  God,  whose  virginity  is  per- 
petual, by  whose  intercessions  accept,  0 
God,  this  sacrifice  upon  thy  heavenly  altar.” 
He  then  puts  it  on  the  light  side  of  the  sa- 
cred bread,  saying,  “ Upon  thy  right  hand 
did  6taud  the  queen  in  gold  of  Ophir.”  He 
then  cuts  nine  pieces  from  the  cake,  in 
commemoration  of  prophets,  apostles, 
fathers,  bishops,  martyrs,  saints,  the  bishop 
of  the  diocese,  all  the  priests  and  deacons, 
“ For  those  who  built  the  temple,  even  for 
the  forgiveness  of  their  sins,  . . . for  those 
who  die  in  hope  of  the  resurrection,  for 
those  who  present  the  bread  ;”  and  for  all  the 
quick  and  the  dead  whom  the  priest  chooses 
to  mention.  Then,  after  various  other 
prayers  and  ceremonies,  the  priest  says, 
“ Let  both  the  bread  and  the  mingled  wine 
and  water  be  transmuted  and  transformed 
by  thy  Holy  Spirit.” 


16 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


The  deacon  then  takes  a fan  and  fans  the 
holy  substances  and  the  priest  says,  “We 
present  unto  thee  this  reasonable  sacrifice 
for  the  believers  who  are  dead,  for  the  primi- 
tive parents,  for  the  fathers,  patriarchs, 
prophets,  apostles,  preachers,  martyrs,  con- 
fessors, hermits,  and  teachers,  and  for  the 
soul  of  every  just  man  who  died  in  the 
faith.” 

At  this  juncture  persons  may  be  seen  en- 
tering the  inner  temple  where  the  priest  is 
“ sacrificing,”  and  laying  down  pieces  of 
money,  at  the  same  time  repeating  to  him 
the  names  they  wish  to  have  mentioned  and 
to  receive  a part  of  the  benefit  from  the 
sacrifice.  For  a dead  person  masses  are  al- 
ways performed  specially. 

An  ex-Greek  priest,  now  for  twenty  years 
a Protestant  native  preacher  in  Syria,  has 
informed  me  that  he  could  never  hear  the 
ringing  sound  of  the  money  brought  to  him 
while  reading  the  communion  service,  as  a 
Greek  priest,  without  a shudder,  and  this  was 
one  of  the  offensive  rites  of  the  Greek  Church 
which  drove  him  into  Protestantism. 

VIII.  The  Greek  Church  believes  in  the 
existence  of  a limbus  wherein  the  souls  of 
departed  men  are  received  and  kept  until 
the  Day  of  Judgment.  The  Catechism 
teaches  that  “ prayers  offered  in  behalf  of 
such  as  die  in  the  faith  without  having 
yielded  fruits  meet  for  repentance  are  effica- 


PROTEST  A NT  MISSIONS. 


17 


cious  in  helping  them  to  obtain  a blessed 
resurrection  ; especially  if  such  prayers  are 
accompanied  by  the  offering  of  the  bloodless 
sacrifice,  the  sacrifice  of  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ,  and  by  alms  offered  in  faith  in 
behalf  of  them.” 

IX.  \Ye  now  come  to  one  of  the  most  re- 
pulsive and  unchristian  features  of  the 
Greek  Church,  the  worship  of  images. 
The  Council  of  Constantinople  (a.d.  754), 
composed  of  338  bishops,  enacted  laws  re- 
pressing the  growing  idolatry  of  the  Eastern 
Church,  but  their  triumph  was  brief.  The 
infamous  Irene,  having  first  poisoned  her 
husband  in  order  to  obtain  the  regency  of 
the  kingdom  during  the  minority  of  her 
son,  and  then  having  deposed  Paul,  one  of 
the  iconoclasti,  from  the  patriarchal  chair 
of  Constantinople  and  put  Tarasius,  her 
secretary,  in  his  place,  assembled  in  concert 
with  Hadrian,  the  Roman  pontiff,  a council 
(a.d.  786),  and  through  it  established  the 
worship  of  images.  In  spite  of  the  opposi- 
tion of  Charlemagne  and  the  decrees  of  the 
Council  of  Frankfort  (a.d.  894),  composed 
of  300  bishops,  forbidding  image  worship, 
the  Roman  pontiff  maintained  it,  and  the 
Greek  Church  to  this  day  defends  it  on  ac- 
count of  the  Seventh  General  Council  at 
Xice  in  786.  The  only  difference  between 
the  Greek  and  Latin  image  worship  is  that 
the  Greeks  repudiate  carved  images  and 


18 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


statues,  and  use  pictures  painted  on  wood 
and  canvas,  the  Greek  word  eikon  meaning 
both  pictures  and  images. 

In  the  Synnaxar  for  the  first  Sunday  in 
Lent  is  the  gracious  expression,  “ As  to  the 
impious  infidels  who  are  not  willing  to 
honor  the  holy  images,  we  excommunicate 
and  curse  them,  saying  Anathema.”  And 
in  the  Horologion,  Beirut  ed.,  1849,  page 
696,  the  crime  of  idolatry  seems  to  reach  its 
climax.  In  the  prayers  to  the  Virgin  offered 
during  Holy  Week  the  curses  of  the  Church 
are  poured  upon  the  heads  of  all  those  who 
do  not  worship  images.  “ May  the  lips  of 
the  impious  (hypocrites  — el-mu-nafikeeri) 
become  dumb,  who  worship  not  thy  revered 
likeness,  0 Mary,  which  was  painted  by 
Luke,  the  most  holy  evangelist,  and  by 
which  we  have  been  led  to  the  faith.” 

It  is  a painful  and  sickening  spectacle  to 
enter  a Greek  church  and  see  the  crowds  of 
worshippers  burning  incense,  lighting  ta- 
pers, and  bowiug  before  the  filthy,  painted 
boards  and  then  devoutly  kissing  them  and 
crossing  themselves.  Bishops,  priests,  dea- 
cons, and  people  vie  with  each  other  in  hon- 
oring these  creatures  of  the  infamous  Irene. 
In  Bishop  Blyth’s  Second  Annual  Report, 
July,  1890,  page  23,  he  speaks  of  “ the 
iconostasis  in  the  Greek  church  in  Damas- 
cus— a marble  screen  on  which,  some  twelve 
feet  from  the  ground  (to  avoid  dangers  of 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


19 


iconolatry),  are  pictures  of  our  Lord  and 
his  saints.”  Had  the  bishop  looked  farther 
in  the  church  he  would  have  seen  a lower 
picture-stand,  on  which  pictures  are  daily 
placed  low  enough  down  to  be  kissed  by  the 
people  ; and  this  is  true  in  every  Greek 
church. 

In  the  Synnaxar  for  the  first  Sunday  in 
Lent  it  is  stated  that  Theophilus,  the  icon- 
oclastic king  (a. d.  830-40),  “was  smitten 
with  an  evil  disease  on  account  of  his  hos- 
tility to  image  worship  ; his  mouth  was  rent 
open  from  ear  to  ear,  and  his  abdominal 
viscera  appeared  ; but  on  repenting  and  wor- 
shipping an  image,  his  mouth  was  restored 
to  its  original  state,  and  soon  after  he  died.” 
The  restoration  of  image  worship  by  his 
widow  Theodora  (a.d.  842)  on  the  first 
Sunday  of  Lent  has  ever  since  been  cele- 
brated in  the  Greek  Church  as  the  feast  of 
Orthodoxy,  TTavrjyvpig  t rjg  dpdudo^ius. 

In  the  consecration  of  a newly  painted 
picture  the  following  words  are  used  : 
“ Send  the  grace  of  thy  Holy  Spirit  and  thy 
angel  upon  this  holy  image,  in  order  that  if 
any  one  pray  by  means  of  it,  his  request 
may  be  granted.” 

In  a picture  of  the  Trinity  in  a book  pub- 
lished in  Jerusalem,  the  Triune  God  is  pic- 
tured in  a group  consisting  of  an  old  man, 
a young  man,  and  a dove,  and  Anthimus, 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  at  the  time,  at- 


20  THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 

tempts  to  justify  the  shocking  sacrilege  in 
labored  argument. 

No  wonder  that  Mohammedans  and  Jews 
look  with  horror  and  loathing  upon  such  a 
travesty  of  Christianity.  No  wonder  that 
multitudes  of  Greek  Christians  in  Russia 
and  Turkey,  with  the  open  Bible  before 
them,  have  made  haste  to  “ come  out  and 
be  separate  and  touch  not  the  unclean 
thing.”  Can  an  orthodox  creed  and  his- 
toric antiquity  justify  such  a glaring  crime 
against  God  as  this  shameless  idolatry  P 

X.  The  Mariolatry  of  the  Greek  Church 
is  also  a grievous  error  and  a stumbling- 
block  in  the  way  of  Mohammedans. 

The  Greek  Church  believes  that  saints 
have  not  yet  entered  heaven,  being  in  the 
limbus  until  the  day  of  resurrection,  and 
yet  addresses  prayers  to  them  as  mediators 
and  intercessors  with  God.  The  sole  interces- 
sion of  J esus  Christ  is  repudiated,  and  Mary 
and  the  saints  exalted  into  his  place.  The 
following  petitions  are  culled  from  the  Greek 
Prayer  - Book  (Horologion)  : Page  678  r 

“We  are  lost  through  our  many  sins,  turn 
us  not  away  disappointed,  for  thou  alone  art 
our  only  hope.”  Page  680  : “ Deliver  us 
from  all  our  distresses,  for  we  take  refuge 
in  thee.  We  offer  our  souls  and  minds  to 
thee.”  Page  704  : “ Oh,  thou  who  didst 
bear  Jesus  Christ,  purge  me  with  hyssop  by 
thine  intercession,  for  I am  very  vile.” 


PKOTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


21 


■“  Oh,  thou  who  alone  art  the  hope  of  Chris- 
tians.” “ 0 Lady,  most  holy  mother  of 
God,  grant  that  I may  praise,  bless,  and 
glorify  thee  all  the  days  of  my  life.”  “ Oh, 
thou  who  art  worthy  of  all  praise,  save 
from  future  punishment  those  who  cry  unto 
thee,  Alleluia.” 

The  use  of  this  word  Alleluia  (praise  ye 
Jehovah)  shows  that  the  Greek  Church  in 
plain  terms  deifies  the  Virgin  Mary,  thus 
justifying  the  charge  of  gross  polytheism 
brought  by  Mohammed  against  the  Christi- 
anity of  his  day,  and,  as  Sir  William  Muir 
justly  says,  “ By  the  cry,  ‘ There  is  no  God 
but  God  alone/  to  trample  under  foot  the 
superstitions,  picture  worship,  and  Mariola- 
try  that  prevailed.  For  example,  see  in  the 
Koran,  Sura  V.,  v.  125,  ‘ And  when  the 
Lord  shall  say,  0 Jesus,  son  of  Mary,  didst 
thou  say  unto  men,  Take  me  and  my  mother 
for  two  Gods  beside  God  ? He  shall  answer, 
God  forbid  ; it  is  not  for  me  to  say  that 
which  is  not  the  truth/  ” 

The  Mohammedans  everywhere  believe 
that  the  Trinity  is  a blasphemous  elevation 
of  a woman  to  a place  in  the  Godhead.  Is 
it  strange  that  the  Mariolatry  of  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches  has  become  a “ rock  of 
offence”  to  the  whole  Mohammedan  world  ? 

Space  will  not  allow  our  giving  details  as 
to  the  worship  of  relics,  and  the  prayers 
offered  to  the  wood  of  the  cross,  and  the 


22 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


brutal  deception  of  the  holy  fire,  annually 
sanctioned  and  promoted  by  the  patriarch, 
bishops,  and  priests  of  Jerusalem  as  a proof 
of  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Greek  Church.  The 
patriarch  admits  it  to  be  a fraud  and  an 
imposture,  and  yet  sanctions  it  because  the 
revenues  need  it  and  the  people  will  have  it. 

The  Greek  Church  stands  condemned 
from  its  own  authorized  symbols  as  poly- 
theistic, idolatrous,  and  unscriptural.  It 
deserves  all  the  denunciations  hurled  by 
Huss  and  Luther,  Wickliffe  and  Knox  upon 
the  abominations  of  Rome. 

What,  then,  is  Reformed  Protestant 
Christendom  to  do  in  view  of  these  two 
great  facts,  the  duty  of  Christianizing  the 
Mohammedan  world  and  the  obstacles  in- 
terposed by  the  idolatries  of  nominal  Chris- 
tians living  among  them  ? 

The  Oriental  churches  need  the  Gospel  in 
its  purity.  How  shall  it  be  given  to  them  ? 

I.  One  view  has  been  to  effect  an  outward 
ecclesiastical  union  between  these  sects  and 
Protestant  Christianity,  on  the  basis  of  ad- 
mitting the  truth  they  hold,  without  agi- 
tating the  question  of  their  errors.  The 
fatal  objection  to  this  is  its  absolute  imprac- 
ticability. 

Union  of  Protestants  with  the  Greek 
Church  on  the  basis  of  intercommunion  can 
never  be  effected,  the  Greek  Church  re- 
maining as  it  is,  until  all  Protestants  have 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


23 


submitted  to  trine  immersion  by  a Greek 
priest.  The  concession  must  be  all  on  one 
side.  Let  this  be  borne  in  mind,  and  the 
advocates  of  union  with  the  Greek  Church 
may  be  saved  much  needless  mortification. 

The  modern  attempts  at  fraternization 
with  the  Greek  Church  by  Protestant  bish- 
ops, canons,  and  clergy  have  only  increased 
the  contempt  of  the  Greek  clergy  for  Prot- 
estantism and  their  attachment  to  the  tradi- 
tions and  superstitions  of  their  fathers. 
After  an  address  bv  a zealous  Anglican  in 
the  Greek  school  in  Beirut,  full  of  laudation 
of  the  Greek  Church,  the  young  people 
were  heard  saying,  Why  should  we  not  wor- 
ship the  Virgin  and  the  saints  and  the  holy 
pictures,  for  the  Church  of  England  ap- 
proves it  ? As  the  venerable  translator  of 
the  Bible  into  Arabic,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Van 
Dyck,  recently  wrote  to  an  Anglican  clergy- 
man : “ Union  with  the  Greek  Church  is 
easy  enough.  Let  the  archbishops,  bishops, 
and  other  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England 
accept  rebaptism  and  reordination  at  the 
hands  of  a Greek  priest,  together  with  the 
holy  chrism  ; let  the  higher  clergy  put  away 
their  wives  and  live  a celibate  life,  and  let 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  English  Church  be 
rebaptized,  adopt  Mariolatry  and  picture 
worship,  and  all  the  idolatries  of  the  Greek 
Church,  and  union  will  be  easy  enough,  but 
on  no  other  terms.  ** 


24 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


II.  Another  plan  proposed  is  to  reform 
the  higher  ecclesiastics  and  through  them 
the  people.  The  twelve  labors  of  Hercules 
were  slight  compared  with  such  a task. 
The  patriarchs  and  bishops  of  the  East  are, 
as  a class,  wealthy,  avaricious,  masters  of 
political  intrigue,  unscrupulous,  and  trained 
to  hierarchical  tyranny  over  the  consciences 
of  men,  and  will  probably  be  the  last  class 
in  the  East  to  accept  the  Gospel  in  its  sim- 
plicity. There  are  a few  noble  exceptions, 
men  who  would  gladly  hail  a reformation, 
but  find  their  hands  tied  and  their  efforts 
thwarted  by  the  iron  fetters  of  ecclesiastical 
despotism.  The  Greek  Church  is  bound 
hand  and  foot  to  the  Church  of  Greece  and 
Russia,  with  whom  tradition  is  supreme. 
No  change  in  liturgies,  prayers,  doctrines, 
and  usages  would  be  possible  without  a 
council  of  the  four  patriarchs  of  Constanti- 
nople, Antioch,  Jerusalem,  and  Alexandria 
and  the  holy  Synod  of  Russia,  and  such  a 
council,  for  such  an  object,  is  about  as 
likely  as  a council  at  Rome  to  abolish  the 
papacy,  or  a council  at  Mecca  to  abolish 
Islam. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  clergy  de- 
sire a reform,  and  the  laity  have  no  voice. 
Archasolatry,  avarice,  and  political  power 
form  a threefold  cord  which  will  not  be 
easily  broken.  The  mass  of  the  clergy  are 
ignorant  and  immoral,  utterly  indifferent  to 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


25 


spiritual  reform,  and  the  ignorant  laity, 
whose  war-cry  in  their  contests  with  the 
Latins  is  the  infallibility  of  the  first  Seven 
Councils,  would  mob  their  clergy  if  they 
proposed  to  cast  out  the  pictures  from  the 
churches. 

Simony  and  moral  dishonesty  are  notori- 
ous among  the  higher  clergy.  In  August, 
1891,  an  intrigue  was  carried  on  by  a high 
Greek  ecclesiastic  in  Jerusalem  to  purchase 
the  patriarchal  chair  of  Antioch  (in  Damas- 
cus and  Beirut)  by  the  payment  of  £10,000, 
and  the  endowment  of  the  chair  with  nearly 
£90,000  on  his  death. 

It  is  humiliating  to  see  godly  men  in  the 
Protestant  Church  of  England  proposing  to 
fraternize  with  such  Oriental  ecclesiastics. 

III.  A third  scheme  has  been  suggested 
and  faithfully  tried.  It  proposes  to  preach 
the  Gospel  and  give  the  Bible  to  the  people, 
leaving  them  in  their  own  ecclesiastical  re- 
lations, in  the  hope  of  reforming  the  Church 
from  within. 

This  plan  has  been  patiently  tried  in 
Syria,  Egypt,  and  Asia  Minor  without  suc- 
cess. It  is  still  on  trial  among  the  Nesto- 
rians.  It  has  been  found  in  the  countries 
first  named  that  no  sooner  do  men  read  the 
Bible  and  know  Christ  experimentally,  no 
sooner  do  they  compare  the  New  Testament 
Church  with  the  rites,  ceremonies,  and 
priestly  systems  of  the  Oriental  churches. 


26 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


than  they  make  haste  to  “ come  out  and  be 
separate.”  Enlightened  New  Testament 
students  will  not  pray  to  a creature  or  wor- 
ship a painted  board.  Nor,  if  they  wished 
it,  would  their  priests  allow  them  to  remain 
in  a church  whose  laws  they  disobey. 

The  result  has  been  that  the  people  them- 
selves have  demanded  and  compelled  the 
organization  of  a new  Oriental  Evangelical 
Church.  This  has  been  done  in  Egypt, 
Palestine,  Syria,  and  Asia  Minor.  It  has 
vindicated  the  claims  of  Christianity  to  be 
'a  pure  non-idolatrous  religion.  Moham- 
medans can  see  the  Bible  acted  out  in  life 
in  the  teaching  and  practice  of  the  Protes- 
tant churches.  They  are  now  beginning  to 
believe  that  the  Bible  does  not  sanction 
idolatry,  and  that  the  Oriental  churches 
have  gone  astray  from  the  truth. 

In  the  agreement  in  1850  between  Baron 
Bunsen  and  Archbishop  Sumner  with  regard 
to  the  Jerusalem  bishopric  it  is  said  : 

“ Duty  requires  a calm  exposition  of 
scriptural  truth  and  a quiet  exhibition  of 
scriptural  discipline  ; and  where  it  has 
pleased  God  to  give  his  blessing  to  it  and 
the  mind  has  become  emancipated  from  the 
fetters  of  a corrupt  faith,  there  we  have  no 
right  to  turn  our  backs  upon  the  liberated 
captive  and  bid  him  return  to  his  slavery  or 
seek  aid  elsewhere.” 

This  is  a clear,  calm,  and  Christian  state- 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


27 


ment  of  the  case.  The  20,000  communi- 
cants in  the  Protestant  churches  of  the 
Turkish  Empire  are  simply  “ liberated  cap- 
tives.” 

These  Protestant  churches  are  the  “ Sierra 
Leone”  and  the  “ Frere  Town”  in  this  dark 
Africa  of  Oriental  sacerdotalism.  An  open 
Bible  and  a free  salvation  through  faith  in 
Christ  are  the  right  and  the  refuge  of  all 
these  enslaved  populations. 

On  the  basis  of  Archbishop  Sumner’s  no- 
ble utterance,  the  Church  Missionary  Soci- 
ety has  pursued  its  admirable  course  of  evan- 
gelization in  Palestine  for  the  last  fifty  years. 
It  has  opened  schools,  organized  churches, 
and  sowed  the  good  seed  of  the  Gospel. 
The  sainted  Bishops  Gobat  and  Barclay  fol- 
lowed the  instructions  of  their  archbishop, 
and  welcomed  many  a liberated  captive  to 
the  fold  of  Christ.  A self-denying  and 
conscientious  band  of  missionaries,  amid 
difficulties  and  obstacles  found  perhaps 
nowhere  else  on  earth,  amid  a population 
demoralized  and  pauperized  and  perverted 
by  the  wholesale  almshouse  system  of  Greeks, 
Latins,  Armenians,  Moslems,  and  Jews  who 
feed  and  house  their  adherents  and  thus 
well-nigh  extinguish  every  spark  of  manli- 
ness and  self-respect,  have,  in  spite  of  such 
an  environment,  ennobled  the  name  of  Prot- 
estant Christianity,  testified  boldly  to  Mos- 
lems, Greeks,  and  Jews  of  a higher  and 


28 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


purer  faith  than  any  they  have  known,  and, 
by  the  assiduous  labors  of  the  preacher,  the 
teacher,  the  physician,  the  Biblewoman,  the 
faithful  nurse,  and  the  colporteur,  not  a 
few  of  whom  labor  at  their  own  charges, 
laid  the  foundations  of  a spiritual  reforma- 
tion, for  which  all  God’s  people  should 
offer  hearty  thanksgiving. 

And  now  these  good  men  and  women, 
some  of  whom  have  grown  gray  in  the  mis- 
sionary work,  are  taken  to  task  for  “ prose- 
lytizing” among  the  adherents  of  the  Holy 
Orthodox  Church.  The  public  press  and 
missionary  periodicals  are  full  of  the  con- 
flict raging  between  opposing  policies  of 
missionary  work  in  Palestine.  The  Church 
Missionary  Society,  whose  object  is  to  “ seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost,”  advocates 
the  principles  of  Archbishop  Sumner,  the 
same  which  have  been  acted  on  by  all  the 
American  missions  in  Turkey  since  1820. 

The  extreme  Sacerdotal  party,  headed  by 
Archdeacon  Denison,  advocate  a policy  so 
extraordinary  that  one  can  only  explain  it 
on  the  ground  of  ignorance  of  history,  an- 
cient and  modern,  or  a blind  infatuation. 
They  sent  a memorial,  July  5th,  1891,  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  represent- 
ing : 

“ I.  That  English  clergymen  cannot  legit- 
imately labor  for  the  conversion  of  Jews 
and  Mohammedans  in  Syria  and  Palestine 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


29 


without  due  mission  and  jurisdiction,  to  be 
given  by  the  Orthodox  Territorial  Episco- 
pate. 

“ II.  We  observe  with  grave  apprehension 
the  prevalence  of  an  opinion  that  English 
clergymen  engaged  in  this  work  (whether 
with  or  without  mission,  as  aforesaid)  may 
lawfully,  so  long  as  they  abstain  from  active 
proselytizing,  receive  into  their  congrega- 
tions members  of  the  Orthodox  Church  who 
are  discontented  with  the  ministrations  of 
their  lawful  pastors.  This  proceeding  seems 
to  us  to  be  a direct  encouragement  of  a 
schismatical  temper.  They  therefore  anx- 
iously hope 

“ III.  That  no  English  clergyman  will 
be  allowed  in  the  future  so  to  receive  any 
Orthodox  Christian,  whether  child  or  adult, 
without  the  express  permission  of  his  lawful 
pastor. 

“ IV.  That  all  who  have  been  so  received 
in  the  past  will  be  urged  to  obtain  such  per- 
mission, or,  failing  this,  to  return  to  their 
allegiance. 

“ V.  That  no  English  clergyman  will  be 
allowed  to  undertake  any  spiritual  work  in 
Palestine  without  express  commission  from 
the  Orthodox  patriarch  or  bishop,  granted 
to  him  either  immediately  or  mediately 
through  the  Anglican  bishop  resident  at 
Jerusalem. 

“VI.  That  in  order  to  obviate  all  appear- 


30 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


ance  of  the  exercise  of  independent  jurisdic- 
tion by  any  English  bishop  in  Syria  or  Pales- 
tine, the  use  of  such  terms  as  diocese,  or 
commissary  or  archdeacon,  and  the  creation 
of  anything  approaching  to  diocesan  organi- 
sation be  avoided.” 

One  needs  documentary  evidence  to  prove 
that  Protestant  clergymen  in  the  nineteenth 
century  would  sign  such  a document  as  the 
above  ; yet  it  is  signed  by  4 archdeacons, 
17  canons,  and  68  clergymen — 89  in  all. 

A question  arises  in  the  outset.  Why 
should  such  devotees  of  legitimatism  and 
Episcopal  prerogatives  ignore,  in  such  an 
insulting  manner,  the  ancient  and  historic 
Armenian  and  Latin  patriarchs  of  Jerusa- 
lem ? 

And  why,  if  the  Greek  clergy  have  his- 
toric right  to  the  territory,  and  are  qualified 
to  do  all  diocesan,  parochial,  and  missionary 
work  in  Western  Asia,  should  an  Anglican 
bishop  invade  the  sacred  precincts  even  as 
a resident  ? 

And  why,  if  Bishop  Blyth  must  obtain 
“ due  mission  and  jurisdiction”  to  labor 
for  Jews  and  Moslems,  should  he  not  carry 
the  matter  to  its  logical  conclusion,  and  ask 
for  “ legitimate”  baptism  and  “ legitimate” 
ordination  at  the  hands  of  the  Greek  bish- 
op ? This  would  simplify  the  whole  matter 
and  at  least  secure  the  existence  of  one  godly 
bishop  among  the  Oriental  clergy ; and 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


31 


then,  on  his  next  visit  to  England,  the  new 
Gneco-Anglican  b:shop  could  rebaptize  and 
reordain  the  whole  89  memorialists,  and  re- 
lieve their  minds  of  any  doubt  as  to  their 
orthodoxy. 

But  seriously,  this  memorial  is  a logical 
and  consistent  view  from  the  sacerdotal 
standpoint. 

The  Orthodox  Episcopate  is  everything. 
Simony,  immorality,  unscriptural  teaching, 
idolatry,  and  Mariolatry  are  nothing — mere 
trifles.  The  fact  that  for  twelve  hundred 
years  this  haughty  hierarchy  has  done  noth- 
ing for  the  conversion  of  Moslems  and  Jews, 
and  has  cared  to  do  nothing,  and  that  its 
gross  idolatries  have  made  Mohammedans 
hate  and  spit  upon  the  name  of  Christianity 
— all  this  is  of  no  account. 

These  hierarchs  have  the  only  legitimate 
right  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  perishing 
Jews,  Moslems,  and  pagans  in  all  Western 
Asia  and  Northern  Africa.  If  they  do  not 
preach,  no  matter.  If  their  preaching 
would  be  a scandal  and  a shame,  no  matter. 
If  they  preached  and  prayed,  asking  that 
“ the  lips”  of  every  Anglican  clergyman  and 
layman  “ be  struck  dumb”  as  impious  hypo- 
crites, because  they  will  “ not  worship  St. 
Luke’s  picture  of  the  Virgin  Mary,”  no 
matter.  They  are  legitimate.  If  they  keep 
Moslems  and  Jews — yes,  and  their  own  de- 
luded followers — out  of  eternal  life,  it  is  well, 


32 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


for  the  great  object  of  a legitimate  eccle- 
siastical system  ‘ ‘ is  not  the  saving  of  im- 
mortal souls,  for  whom  Christ  died,  but  the 
maintenance  of  a machine  for  its  own 
sake.”  * 

This  narrow  sacerdotal  spirit  would  have 
kept  Peter  and  Paul  and  James  out  of  the 
“ legitimate”  synagogues  where  they 
preached  Christ  and  denounced  Judaism, 
and  handed  over  the  salvation  of  the  world, 
or  what  would  be  more  important,  the  con- 
servation of  Orthodox  Judaism,  to  the 
“ legitimate”  chief  priests.  Scribes,  and 
Pharisees.  It  would  denounce  Huss  and 
Luther  and  Wickliffe  as  pestilent  prose- 
lytizers. 

Let  us  thank  God  that  this  spirit  is  not 
the  dominant  spirit  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and  that  this  memorial  represents  only  an 
insignificant  fraction  of  the  clergy  of  the 
Church  of  England. 

The  spread  of  light  and  Bible  knowledge 
among  the  youth  of  the  Greek  community 
in  Syria  is  rapidly  bringing  them  into  a 
critical  position.  Two  tendencies  are  mani- 
fest : The  first  is  toward  infidelity.  They 
say  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church  claims  to 
be  the  only  true  church,  but  it  is  corrupt 
beyond  hope  of  reform,  so  we  will  have  done 
with  all  religion.  Family  ties  and  tradi- 


» The  Record,  July  10, 1891. 


PKOTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


33 


tions,  pride  of  name  and  pecuniary  interests 
keep  them  in  outward  connection  with  the 
Church,  whilo  they  laugh  at  its  supersti- 
tions and  despise  its  hierarchy.  This  class 
are  rapidly  lapsing  into  French  infidelity. 

The  second  is  among  the  more  thoughtful 
and  conscientious,  who,  in  despair  of  re- 
forming the  errors  of  the  old  Church,  break 
away  from  all  connection  with  it  and  em- 
brace Protestantism. 

Here  they  find  freedom  from  hierarchical 
domination,  liberty  of  conscience,  an  open 
Bible,  and  a pure,  non-idolatrous  doctrinal 
system.  No  more  priestly  absolution,  trail- 
substantiation,  picture  worship,  cross  wor- 
ship, adoration  of  the  Virgin,  and  invoca- 
tion of  the  saints.  They  accept  the  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith  and  are  at  rest. 

To  receive  such  men  into  the  Protestant 
communion,  however  it  may  be  stigmatized 
by  Archdeacon  Denison  as  “ proselytism,” 
is  dignified  by  a greater  than  the  archdea- 
con, even  Archbishop  Sumner,  as  receiving 
“ liberated  captives.” 

It  is  the  delightful  privilege  of  the  Chris- 
tian missionary  to  give  such  men  a hearty 
and  fraternal  welcome. 

Bishop  Blyth,  in  a conversation  with  Bev. 
H.  E.  Fox,  of  Durham,  England,  defined 
“ proselytism  to  be  unfair  pressure  to  per- 
suade a man  to  leave  one  church  for  an- 
other.” Where  the  bishop  has  met  with 


34 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


that  type  of  proselytizing  I am  at  a loss  to 
conjecture.  During  a residence  of  thirty-five 
years  in  the  East,  I have  not  met  it  among 
either  English  or  American  missionaries. 

The  Jesuits  notoriously  practise  it,  and 
are  making  rapid  inroads  upon  the  Oriental 
churches.  I have  known  an  Anglican 
clergyman  of  sacerdotal  tendencies  to  labor 
for  two  hours  to  persuade  a stanch  Protes- 
tant in  Beirut,  who  was  born  and  baptized  a 
Protestant,  to  enter  the  Greek  Church,  but 
I do  not  believe  that  either  the  Presbyterian 
or  Church  of  England  missionaries  in  West- 
ern Asia  use  “ unfair”  means  to  draw  men 
into  the  Protestant  churches.  I was  re- 
cently riding  in  the  French  omnibus  from 
Beirut  to  Aaleili  in  Mount  Lebanon.  My 
fellow-passengers  were  Greek,  Maronite,  and 
Greek  Catholic  gentlemen  from  Beirut.  A 
young  Greek  Effendi  of  well-known  ability 
entered  into  a discussion  of  the  comparative 
systems  of  instruction  in  the  Protestant  and 
Jesuit  schools.  Said  he,  “ Our  Greek  boys 
go  to  the  Jesuit  College.  They  are  taught 
daily  the  Romish  doctrines,  the  Pope,  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  the  errors  of  the 
Greek  schism.  It  is  drilled  and  beaten  into 
them,  and  yet,  as  a fact,  hardly  one  of  the 
Greek  boy6  ever  becomes  a Jesuit.  We 
also  send  boys  to  the  American  College  and 
seminaries.  Nothing  is  6aid  about  Protes- 
tantism or  the  Greek  Church.  There  is  no 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


35 


attack  on  picture  worship  or  the  worship  of 
the  Virgin.  Only  the  Bible  is  taught  and 
Bible  truth  is  preached,  and  the  result  is 
that  the  great  part  of  our  young  men  be- 
come Protestants.”  I believe  that  the  testi- 
mony of  Nejeeb  Elfendi  will  be  corroborated 
by  that  of  every  intelligent  man  in  the 
country. 

The  vast  accessions  to  Protestantism  from 
among  the  Oriental  churches  have  been  oc- 
casioned by  the  working  of  the  Gospel 
leaven  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men. 

To  bid  these  men  “ return  to  their  sla- 
very” (to  use  the  language  of  Archbishop 
Sumner)  would  be  an  outrage  upon  Chris- 
tian charity,  and  treachery  to  the  principles 
of  the  Gospel. 

In  the  time  of  St.  Paul  the  Jews  had  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures — “Who  are  Israel- 
ites ; to  whom  pertainetli  the  adoption,  and 
the  glory,  and  the  covenants,  and  the  giving 
of  the  law,  and  the  service  of  God,  and  the 
promises  : whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of 
whom  as  concerning  the  flesh  Christ  came” 
(Rom.  ix.  4,  5) — but  they  had  rejected  the 
Messiah  through  the  traditions  of  the  oral 
law,  and  the  Gospel  was  to  be  preached  to 
them.  They  were  bidden  to  “ come  out 
and  be  separate.” 

The  Greeks  have  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, but  they  have  buried  the  living 
Christ  under  a mass  of  traditions  and  super- 


36 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AND 


stitions  and  the  idolatrous  decrees  of  that 
anti-Christian  Seventh  General  Council, 
caricaturing  the  divine  glories  of  our  Lord’s 
miraculous  resurrection  by  the  lying  fraud 
and  imposture  of  the  blasphemous  Greek 
fire,  which  makes  the  Moslem  and  Jewish 
enemies  of  Christ  to  blaspheme  ; and  it  is 
the  duty  of  every  branch  of  the  Reformed 
Church  to  lift  up  its  voice  in  protest,  preach 
to  them  the  pure  Gospel,  and  when  they 
come  out  and  are  separate  and  refuse  to 
touch  the  unclean  thing,  to  hid  them  hearty 
welcome  to  a purer  church  and  a more  or- 
thodox doctrine. 

The  persecution  of  the  Stundists  in  Rus- 
sia, who  are  being  exiled  to  Siberia  with 
barbarous  cruelty  for  the  sole  crime  of 
studying  the  Bible  and  then  refusing  to  at- 
tend the  Greek  Church,  shows  the  under- 
lying animus  of  the  Greek  Church  every- 
where. 

To  place  ourselves  on  a vantage  ground 
with  the  Mohammedans,  we  must  let  it  be 
thoroughly  understood  that  we  are  distinct 
and  separate  from  the  idolatrous  Oriental 
churches.  The  Moslems  look  on  these 
“ Christians”  as  creature  worshippers. 
They  are  now  beginning  to  understand  that 
the  Protestants  hold  to  a purer  faith. 
Sheikh  Mohammed  Smair,  of  the  Anazy 
Arabs,  on  entering  our  simple  church  in 
Beirut  stood  by  my  side  in  the  pulpit. 


mssiom 


and  Placing  hi*  i , 37 

!?,bIe’  8aid,  “ Tru?d  °n  the  open  Arabic 
jd-  Th<*e  i8  n*  /ilS  18  house  0f 

llle>  July,  1891  tt  rp,  -Aden,  Arabia 

hiring  ia  i h;,  b?u*  °f  tl.e  i/opT'  “!'<i 

(are  r!,xPly  grieved  at  tj"bie  ^‘nes.^lVe 

of  tte  Wd  T“g  ‘he  "olle^'X^ 

3%  his  will  be  doueTre  U fKm  our 

nJ  attempt  at  “ 

cC®^"  «Jtt  an 

Ti<»>  io^^-  follow  0lethm6 

rrs  is  ^ 

^ ^ **  ** 

esfMtnuesi„D34““ed“ns . We  “sled  prot 
“ ^ one  atheiTa °s,n™ 

Tie  ”rshiP'  " " 0i>P°Siti0n  *»’ 

from  Islam  Je™  is  tie  1st  of  .•"*  00nd<i®- 

during-  this  f ^ that  the  (ir*  7 ^ 

7 i ® tnis  time  been  « ,.A.  Greets  hare 


38 


THE  GREEK  CHURCH  AKD 


reply  by  pointing  to  the  Ottoman  Tartar 
conquest  of  the  Arabs,  when  the  conquerors 
embraced  the  religion  of  the  conquered. 

Alas  ! it  is  too  true  that  the  Greek  Church 
in  Syria  and  Palestine  has  lost  all  missionary 
zeal  and  has  ceased  to  honor  the  Holy 
Spirit,  while  nominally  holding  to  his  di- 
vinity. Salvation  is  through  outward  rites 
and  the  works  of  the  law. 

Does  Archdeacon  Denison  know  what  the 
Greek  Church  is  and  has  been  since  that 
idolatrous  edict  of  the  Seventh  General 
Council  ? 

Does  he  suppose  that  the  Patriarch  of 
Jerusalem,  standing  with  his  brilliant  ret- 
inue of  bishops  and  priests  in  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  on  the  Greek  Easter, 
and  secretly  lighting  with  a lucifer  match 
the  flame  which  he  knows  is  regarded  by 
the  surging  thousands  of  ignorant  pilgrims 
as  a veritable  miraculous  self- lighted  flame, 
issuing  from  the  tomb  of  Christ  as  a proof 
of  the  divine  sanction  to  the  Greek  Church — 
that  this  patriarch,  whom  the  archdeacon 
says  should  be  entrusted  with  the  sole  re- 
sponsibility of  converting  the  Moslems  and 
the  Jews,  could  have  the  face  to  turn  to  the 
Moslem  military  officers,  stationed  to  pre- 
vent the  mob  of  crazed  fanatics  from  tramp- 
ling each  other  to  death,  and  ask  them  to 
accept  the  Christianity  of  the  Greek  Church 
as  the  only  true  faith  ? Would  not  the  Mos- 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS. 


39 


lem  turn  upon  him  with  scorn  and  say, 
“ Cast  out  your  idol  abominations,  your 
burning  of  incense,  and  bowing  before  the 
‘ eikons/  your  invocation  of  saints  and  an- 
gels, your  prayers  to  Mary  as  your  ‘ only 
saviour  and  deliverer/ your  paying  of  money 
for  the  deliverance  of  your  dead,  your  priest- 
ly absolution,  your  confession  to  a man — abol- 
ish forever  this  shameful  fraud  of  the  Holy 
Fire,  go  back  to  the  precepts  of  your  own 
Tourat  and  Enjeel,  and  then  come  and 
preach  to  us,  but  not  till  then.” 

Is  not  a period  of  twelve  hundred  years’ 
probation  enough  for  the  so-stvled  Orthodox 
Apostolic  Church  to  prove  its  fitness  for 
evangelizing  the  Mohammedans  ? 

Does  any  one  suppose  that  the  Greek 
hierarchy  of  to-day,  with  its  spirit  of  arro- 
gance and  persecution,  its  worldliness  and 
unspirituality,  is  prepared  or  disposed  to 
lead  Moslems  to  Christ,  the  Lamb  of  God, 
who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world  ? 

And  are  English  missionaries,  full  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  of  Stephen  and  Paul,  and 
longing  for  the  salvation  of  the  perishing, 
holding  to  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  alone,  and  to  the  Word  of  God  as  the 
only  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  to  refrain 
from  preaching  the  Gospel  to  Moslems  and 
Jews  until  sanction  is  given  them  by  this 
modern  Sanhedrim  ? Truly  this  is  sacer- 
dotalism run  mad. 


40 


tbe  0*«k 


THE 

„ nie  Ctorch  or 

Pel  as  , our  sectarian  ‘ coTLtcuiptihle 

hierarchs-  U triftiiag,  ^ ^mentouB 

ences  are  red  with  th  ^ ^ in 

conscquen  „reat  worh  L to  Q\lTist. 

poaiate  ^ m idolatnes-  ^ white 

and  anti-t-  nYvristianity  *,  * the 

i*  prote;S  m “"tomtaC-a  -a 

rohesnnap f*X*  of  these  1W 

untaiio«  \ s ot  the  BiWe,  a„a 

nl»pmt»»  J liev0  ,n  t is  t0 

Mohammed*  the  60n  of  the 

Let  us  gi  thereiowP- 
Pue  aM  the  name  an  PrieBt, 

“*£&**  ranged- 

Islam-  s,rhey  wffl  not  e ..  .halt 

not  do  • } pTvvUege  an  an0ther, 

“ \inwn  from  them  aTvd  g1^  Reformation- 
be  fthe  churches  of  {uY  to  this 

even  to  the  • t tRat  we  are 
Oct  us  see  to  i d trust. 

sacred  responsibly 


